Lessons Learned
by Ilovecats
Summary: AU Lexzie fic. Izzie is uptight. Alex is a troublemaker. What happens when she has to tutor him? Highschool fic
1. The Beauty and the Trouble Maker

Disclaimer: For legal purposes, let's assume that I don't own anything.

Izzie slammed her locker shut causing the metal to reverberate through the hall. She was only sixteen and was already through with men. Her most recent boyfriend, no ex-boyfriend, Denny Duquette had just broken up with her in front of her entire science class. He had used her so he could get a good grade on the lab assignments. And she played right into his charming smile and smooth words.

The sound of clicking heels brought Izzie out of her thoughts. She looked up to see a beautiful blond walking down the hallway, books in her slender hands. Izzie laughed as the girl let the books fall to the ground in front of her locker, an annoyed look on her face.

"I guess I'm not the only one who had a bad day," Izzie stated as the blond began furiously shoving books into her locker.

"Nice to see you too," the girl replied sarcastically. "But I assure you that my bad day beats yours hands down."

Izzie snickered at the girl's response. "Try me," she challenged.

The teenaged girl shifted her emerald green eyes to the blond-haired beauty next to her. She smiled defiantly at the invitation to best her. "First," she began. "I got my math test back today. I failed with the lowest grade in the class. Then in English class, Miss Glowers gave us a pop quiz on the chapters I forgot to read last night. And to top it all off, Mr. Long gave us a ton of homework in history." The girl gave Theresa her million dollar smile, certain that she had topped her. "And you?"

"I didn't fail any tests today," she started calmly. "Just got dumped in front of my entire science class, that's all."

Her eyes changed from those of triumph, to those of concern. "Oh sweetie, I'm so sorry."

Izzie looked at her best friend and couldn't help but laugh. "Meredith, Don't be. Denny was getting in the way of my studies."

Meredith Grey shook her head. She didn't know how she and Izzie had become such great friends given that they were complete opposites. Her with her light blond hair and petite frame and Izzie with her platinum blond hair and curvier body had met only two and a half years before, both frightened freshman looking for a place to fit in. Meredith, the middle of six children had entered high school desperate to overcome the reputations of her older siblings. Robert, the jock, Amber, the class whore, and Michael the class president had all left indelible marks on students and teachers alike. But with her stunning good looks, loveable personality, and unflappable disposition she didn't become "his or her sister" but Meredith Grey, homecoming queen, class clown, and every guys dream.

Izzie on the other hand, the youngest of only two, began high school a virtual nobody. Her brother Mark, having left two years before she started going to high school, graduated at the middle of his class with no great achievements to his name. She came with a mission. She set her goals early, wanting to become valedictorian, class president, and club founder. And she succeeded. She was at the top of her class, president for her third year running, and founder of the club for future surgeons.

Yet on that first day of school they somehow managed to run into one another and became fast friends. They differed in looks, in family background, in academic achievement and in priorities, but they both loved life and each other. They were like sisters. And that's why Meredith knew that Izzie was putting up a front, denying how betrayed she felt by Denny.

Meredith frowned as Izzie kept insisting that she was perfectly fine. She never understood how her best friend put so much emphasis on academics, ignoring her social life. When Denny asked Izzie out, Meredith was happy for her, grateful that her friend was considering a love life. And now, three months later, following the completion of the chemistry project, Denny had just set back Izzie's love life.

"Let's go to the mall and get ice cream. We'll buy some clothes to make Denny regret ever breaking your heart."

Izzie shook her head. "Can't. I've got plans."

Meredith widened her eyes. "Plans? Do you have another way to get back at men?"

Izzie laughed. "Sorry to disappoint you Mer, but I promised Mr. Long that I'd help one of the students in his other class. I'm going to be a tutor."

Meredith clicked her tongue. She sighed. "Iz, why? You don't need the extra credit."

Izzie shook her head and smiled. She loved that her best friend only did what was necessary of her when it came to school. But Izzie didn't live that way. She couldn't. She always put in that extra effort. Most would call her an overachiever, but Izzie knew that was the only way to get out of the trailer park after high school. She wasn't rich like Meredith. She needed to do well. She needed to do more than well. She needed to shine. Otherwise, she would not be able to afford to go to college. "It looks good on college applications."

"Uh-huh. So does a social life. When are you going to pull that off?"

"Well..." Izzie put her thumb into her mouth. "we could go to the movies this weekend, but only if I go tutor right now." She looked at her watch. "Shoot, I'm going to be late. Bye Mer. I'll call you when I get done here."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll talk to you later."

Izzie's shoes squeaked as she walked down the empty corridor toward room number 103. Mr. Long's history classroom. She opened the door and was greeted by many familiar sights. Posters of many historical events hung on the walls, ranging from the Civil War to World War Two. Ancient maps and important figures were also arranged on the over crowded walls. "Sorry I'm late Mr Long."

"You're not late," he said. "The boy that I want you to tutor hasn't arrived yet. I hope he hasn't backed out of this."

"Who do you want me to tutor anyway?"

"Now Izzie, you promised to tutor this student no matter what." Her teacher smiled at her. A nervous smile.

"Why won't you tell me his name?"

"Because you'll remember his reputation. And I don't want to scare you."

"Mr. Long...please don't tell me. Not that arrogant guy on the wrestling team. The one who stole the mascot from Washington Heights."

"What's a matter princess? Afraid I'll teach you something important? Like how to live life."

Izzie turned around. A tall boy stood in the doorway, his body blocking the only exit. "You."

"Yep. Me. The one and only Alex Karev."


	2. Bribery Will Get You Far

Alex Karev was a wrestler. Not only did he wrestle for Harmony High School, he was the best one on the team. He was also a prankster, but the administrators ignored it because he was that good of a wrestler. Unfortunately, they could not ignore a failing grade. When the principal discovered that his star wrestler had an F in history, he asked the history teacher, Mr. Long to do whatever was necessary to correct the situation. Isobel Stevens was the best student in Mr. Long's AP history class. That's how Alex and Izzie ended up in a classroom together after school on a Thursday afternoon.

Alex sat in an uncomfortable chair as Izzie droned on about America's role in World War I. She was saying something about German submarine warfare, but he wasn't paying attention. His mind was on the upcoming meet he had against their rival school the following Friday. The history test was next Wednesday and if he didn't get a B on the exam, he would be ineligible to compete in the match.

Izzie waved her hand n front of Alex's face. "Are you even listening to me?"

He blinked, his eyes focusing on the blonde in front of him. "What?"

"You haven't heard a word I said," she said. "What in the world could you possibly be thinking about?"

"There's a party this weekend."

"Seriously? I hope you're thinking that you're going to miss this party this weekend because you'll be too busy studying for your history test."

"Actually, I was thinking how much fun Derek Shepherd's parties always are."

Izzie groaned. Derek was Meredith's on-again, off-again boyfriend. Meredith and Derek were on this week which meant that she was invited to the party as well. And Meredith was going to do everything to try and convince her to go to the party with her on Saturday.

Alex smirked as he studied her facial expression. He had never seen someone look so pissed off about a party. "What's a matter princess? You didn't get an invitation?"

Izzie scowled. How could Alex be such an ass to her when all she was trying to do was help him pass his history exam?

Alex snickered as Izzie appeared even sourer than before. "That's okay. You can come to the party with me."

"Sure," Izzie replied. "I'll go the party with you. But only if you answer one question for me."

"Whatever you want."

"Why did America join World War I?"

Alex smiled. This was going to be easy. He was going to go to this party on Saturday and he was going to get Izzie to loosen up in the process. "When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan." Alex folded his arms across his chest as he sat back in his chair.

"Congratulations," Izzie said.

Alex grinned.

"You just failed your history test."

His smile faltered. "Do you just not like fun? I know I'm right. Everybody knows that Japan bombed Pearl Harbor."

"You're right. The Japanese did bomb Pearl Harbor. But that was in 1941. The United States joined World War I in 1917. But I'll give you another chance. Why did the United States join World War I?"

Alex scratched his head. He thought that was the right answer. How could he have been so wrong? "Um, they didn't like the Nazis?"

Izzie shook her head. Alex was hopeless. He didn't know the difference between World War I and World War II. "The United States joined World War I because the Germans were bombing US ships even though they were neutral at the time. I was talking about Germany's use of submarine warfare for thirty minutes."

"Did you actually expect me to listen to that? You make everything so boring."

"That's not my fault. You should have been paying attention. If you would have studied the material, you could be going to the party on Saturday. Instead, you'll be spending the day with me at the library researching World War I."

"Are you serious? I'm not going to spend a perfectly good Saturday inside some stuffy library reading some boring history books written by some equally boring old geezers. I'm going to the damn party."

Izzie had never met someone as frustrating and stubborn as Alex Karev. He refused to put the effort in to learn the material and expected her to just go along with whatever he said. "Fine," she said. "But when you fail your test next week and the team loses the wrestling match, don't blame me.

"I'm not going to fail," he protested. "I'm going to get an A. And I don't need your help to do it."

Izzie's laughter filled the room as the thought of Alex passing the history exam entered her mind. "You've got to be joking right? You don't even know when World War I was or who fought in it. I bet you don't even know who won the war."

"The United States kicked Germany's ass," Alex remarked.

"Lucky guess," she replied. "But I'll tell you what. If you can prove to me that you will be able to pass this exam by Saturday, not only can you go to the party, I'll go with you."

Who the hell did this woman think she was? His mother? But no matter, he would play her little game. He would go to the party and so was she. "Deal."

* * *

Thanks for the reviews you guys.


	3. The Virgin

Alex's father was a mean drunk. After a long night of drinking, he often came home and beat the crap out of his mother. This is the reason why Alex joined the wrestling team when he was freshman living in Iowa. The next time that his father came home and hit his mother, Alex took a swing at him. He never saw his father again after that night. Alex's mother moved him and his younger sister, Emily to Washington not long after that. Even though his wrestling had caused his family to split up, he joined the team at his new high school anyway.

Wrestling was the one thing that Alex had. It defined who he was. The jock. The fighter. But if he were to fail his history exam, he would be nothing. It still didn't mean that he had to like the way that he had to improve his grade. Even if it meant dealing with a crazed tutor wrapped in the disguise of a hot blonde.

His fists slammed in to the red punching bag. Denny tightened his grip on the bag as it started to sway from the force of Alex's frustration. Izzie had decided that studying for the exam on Saturday wasn't enough. She had somehow convinced Mr. Long that a ten thousand word essay on the improvements in warfare between the two world wars was worth fifteen extra credit points. He was convinced that she came up with this extra credit essay because she didn't want to go to the party. But as much as he wanted to shove the essay back in Izzie's face, those points meant that he could get a B on his history exam instead of an A to improve his grade to the C required to participate in extracurricular activities.

He threw one last punch, sending the bag flying in to Denny's face. They were in the school's gym, working out on Friday afternoon. His other teammates were practicing on the wrestling mats. He wasn't allowed to participate in practices until his grade improved. But that didn't prevent him from keeping his body in shape. He picked up a barbell and added forty pound weights to either side. He lied down on the bench and asked Denny to be his spotter as he exercised.

"What has gotten into you? I've never seen you train this hard for a match before," Denny said.

"Your girlfriend is a bitch."

Denny raised an eyebrow as he stared at his teammate. "Olivia?"

"No, the blonde one. The one who you blew everybody off for."

"Izzie Stevens?"

"Yeah. She's not the most pleasant person to be around."

"Tell me about it. There is something wrong with that girl. I think she must be allergic to fun or something. When we were going out, she hated going to parties. The one party that I actually convinced her to go with me to, the entire time she complained."

Alex laughed. He could picture Izzie standing around at a party, nagging about the loud music. "I can't dance to this," she'd say, probably wishing that it was classical music and everyone was doing the waltz. Her eyes would be wide as saucers when someone gave her a beer. She'd set it down on the table and run out of the room, terrified the police would come and arrest her.

He was determined now more than ever to get her to Derek's party the next day. He would stay up all night working on that essay if he had to.

Alex set the barbell down on the floor. He grabbed two fifteen pound dumbbells and sat down on the bench. He did bicep curls as he and Denny discussed Isobel Stevens.

"And she's just as frigid as her heart is cold. I thought that if I had to date this girl at least the sex would be worth the trouble. But no, get this; she's saving herself for someone special. Can you believe that?"

So, Izzie Stevens was a virgin. Alex would have been surprised but he had met the girl. She was a domineering, brown-nosing, goody two shoes who's holier than thou mentality was off putting, even to the most understanding of individuals. She's going to a virgin forever. There was no man strong enough to want to get to know her long enough to wait until she was 'ready' for that step.

He was going to pass his history test on Wednesday. And he was going to that party on Saturday. Izzie Stevens wasn't going to know what hit her.


	4. The Bitch and the Beer

Alex and Izzie occupied an entire table at the library of the local community college. History books describing World War I and World War II were open on the table. Various papers were scattered around them. Alex stretched his weary arms and legs. They had been there since eight am that morning, nearly thirteen hours. He had written the ten thousand word essay, thirty-five pages by hand. He was going to spend Sunday typing it up. Now, all he had to do was prove that he prepared for the history exam.

"Who fought in World War I?"

"The central powers, which lost the war," Alex began. "They were Germany, Austria-Hungry, and the Ottoman empire. The allied powers were France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy and eventually the United States."

Izzie wrote something down on the piece of paper in front of her before she responded. "Which country left the allied forces before the end of the war and why?"

Alex answered the question. Izzie spent the next half hour asking Alex questions in relation to World War I and World War II. After each question, she would write something on the paper in front of her regardless if it was correct or not.

"Trench warfare," Alex answered Izzie's final question.

She made a few more notes on the paper in front of her. "Not bad. If you were to take the test today, you'd get a C plus."

"Great. Let's go to the party."

Izzie shook her head, her hair flying around her face. "I'd said I go to the party with you if you could prove that you could pass your history exam."

"A C-plus is a passing grade." He knew that she would do this. She would come up with an excuse to get out of going to the party. But he wasn't going to let her get away with it.

"Yes, but you need to get a B on your exam to be eligible for your little sports thing. And that's assuming that you get the full fifteen points of extra credit."

"You asked me open-ended questions. Mr. Long's history test is multiple choice. I'm sure some of those questions that I got wrong I would have made an educated guess on and gotten them right. So you see I've already got a B."

"Do you seriously think that I'm going to buy into your twisted logic? If you don't know the answer cold, you'll only be guessing on the exam. You might as well just have not studied to begin with."

"No," he said. He stood up quickly causing his chair to topple behind him. "If I have a general sense of what the answer could be and I see that on the test, I'll get it right." He folded his arms across his chest as he stared at her.

She stood up becoming eye level with Alex. She shoved the piece of paper that she had marked his answers on toward him. "Take it." She sat back down but kept her eyes on him. She shifted in her seat. "I took guessing into consideration. As you can see," she said gesturing toward the score sheet. "I gave you four points for correct answers, two points for partially correct answers and one point for answers that hit on the general idea."

Alex examined the paper. She had made notes on the margin of the sheet indicating the confidence she believed that Alex had answered the question with. She also ranked the questions by degree of difficulty, giving him an extra point for each challenging question that he answered correctly. He got three of the five difficult questions correct, seven of eight easy questions but only four out of ten of the remaining questions. She had inflated his score to give him the C plus.

"Excuse me," an elderly woman interrupted them. She wore a knee length flower print dress. Her gray hair was in a neat but and glasses were planted firmly on her face. "The library is going to close in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you," Izzie said. The librarian left the area. "Gather your things, we have to leave."

Alex quickly gathered his text book and papers and stuffed them in his backpack. He closed the library books and placed them in the bin. They walked out the door together and stopped in front of their cars. "Come with me to the party," he asked.

"Why are you so insistent that I go to this party with you?"

"Because you seem like a person who needs to have some fun."

"I have plenty of fun."

Alex smiled. He had her exactly where he wanted her. "Prove it. Come to the party with me."

"Fine. I'll go with you, but tomorrow you have to study even harder for the exam than you did today."

"Whatever."

* * *

It was raining when Alex and Izzie arrived at the party. It was at Derek Shepherd's house, a large two-story home painted an ugly pea green. Izzie shook out her coat as she stepped in to the expansive foyer. Half the junior and the entire senior class were there. Most of them were already wasted. Couples made out on the overstuffed couches and in dark corners. Several bedrooms were occupied with random people hooking up.

Meredith was in the center of the living room, obviously drunk. Her shirt was nowhere to be seen as she danced provocatively to the music that blared from the stereo. Finn Dandridge stood behind her, grinding against her back as his fingers traced the curvature of her breasts. She leaned against him as George O'Malley swayed in front of her, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of her hips.

Derek was there too. He stared at Meredith as Finn slipped his hand beneath the waistband of her jeans. She swatted it away. Her face flushed. She pushed past both George and Finn and stopped in front of Derek. She took the bottle of tequila from his hand and took a swig. She placed it on the counter next to him. She grabbed his hand and led him toward his bedroom.

Somebody stepped behind Izzie, his hands sliding around her waist. "You're hot." His breath smelled like cheap beer. "We should find an empty room." He slipped his hand beneath her shirt to fondle her breasts.

"Don't touch me." Her elbow moved back, slamming into his chest. She turned around, prepared to strike if he made another advance at her. It was George. She had met him on the first day of school their freshman year. He was shy, stumbling over his own name when he introduced himself to her. She befriended him when everybody else stayed away. He was the outcast; the one people avoided like the plague. Until the rumors started. Nobody was surprised when Olivia Harper admitted that she had sex with George at a party; she was known for never being able to say no. Meredith confessed to Izzie that during an extended break up with Derek, she drank too much tequila and ended up in bed with George too; a mistake that nobody else knew about. However it was his tryst with Callie Torres that had everybody talking. He had played the bumbling idiot well, convincing everybody that he was a nice guy, inept at making friends and talking to women. He told her that he loved her to get her to sleep with him and then he dumped her. All the guys considered him their hero, admiring him for getting so many hot women to sleep with him. Izzie thought he was a pig and refused to hang out with him anymore. It didn't prevent George from hitting on her and insinuating that they had already had sex to his friends.

George held his side, his eyes darting wildly around the room. A crowd formed around them, most of them too drunk to realize what was going on. George took a step toward her. Izzie took a step back.

"Care to dance?" It was Alex. He emerged from the crowd, a beer in one hand. He offered his other hand to Izzie. She took it. He led her to the other side of the room.

"Thank you."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Do you want something to drink?" Alex put a beer in her hand. "You need to lighten up. O'Malley was drunk."

"So that makes it okay for him to molest me?" She took a small sip of her beer. She didn't like the way it tasted. She set the bottle down on an empty chair. "Do you want to dance?"

"You don't have to do that you know." He finished the beer he had started earlier. He picked up the bottle Izzie had placed on the seat next to her. "I only asked you that so you could get away from O'Malley."

She didn't say anything. If he didn't want to dance, she would do it by herself. She liked to dance. It was something she did for fun. She and Meredith would often crank up her stereo as they danced in Meredith's bedroom.

She started to dance, her hips swaying seductively to the music.

He stared at her as she moved, his lips poised over the bottle. He put it down and wrapped his arms around her. He danced with her, their bodies grinding to the hip hop beat that pulsated throughout the room. His erection pressed up against her thigh, sending a shiver down her spine. She was suddenly hot. Alex too close for comfort. She pulled away from him, allowing the space between them to widen.

Denny Duquette watched Izzie the entire time that she was there. The way she carried herself across the room made him sick. She flitted about like she was better than everybody else; sticking up her nose at everybody that approached her. She treated George, her supposed one time friend like garbage, pushing him away like he had leprosy. Her face contorted from one sip of beer. And now, she was teasing his friend, just like she teased him. He walked up behind her, sandwiching Izzie between himself and Alex.

Izzie screamed as somebody shoved her toward Alex. Denny gripped her hips and pulled her against his erection. "If you want to feel a real man," he whispered. "I can make you feel real good." He kissed the back of her neck. "Or if you prefer. Alex and I can make you feel good together."

She twisted around to face him. "You're disgusting!" Her hand connected with his cheek, causing everybody else in the room to focus their attention on them. "I'm not going to have sex with you."

"Oh please," he shouted. "It's not like you and I haven't done it before."

"Liar!"

"Everybody knows that you and George were screwing before he moved on to Callie. Everybody knows that you and I were hooking up. Just admit it."

"Well, I guess I can't deny it anymore. But as long as we're being honest, I'm just going to have to admit that having sex with you was horrible."

"Don't lie. I'm the best you've ever had."

"No, you're the smallest I've ever had. It felt like I was being poked. No real pleasure. Kinda like this." She placed her finger on his forehead and started poking him.

Denny grabbed her finger, yanking her toward him. He stared at her with venom in his eyes. "You wouldn't know what real pleasure felt like. You don't know how to have a good time. I'll show you." He devoured her mouth.

The scent of alcohol suddenly overwhelmed her senses. She struggled against him as he drew her closer to his body allowing his erection to rub against her again. "Stop," she cried. She pushed him hard. He fell into a table behind him. Bottles of beer crashed to the floor, the brown liquid forming a puddle around Denny. He collapsed back to the floor when he tried to stand up.

Izzie jumped when a warm liquid rolled down her head. She turned around. Alex had a red plastic cup in his hand, beer still dripping from its rim. "What did you do that for?"

"You're being a bitch."

"Excuse me?"

"Ever since you got here, you've been nothing but a bitch. You need to learn to lighten up. You pushed O'Malley away. You pushed Denny away. And you kept your distance from me. All we were trying to do was dance."

"Dancing doesn't require people to grope me."

"I wasn't groping you," Denny said. "I was dancing too close to you and you freaked out. You pushed me into a table for god's sake. You're lucky that I didn't break my arm."

"You were trying to get me to have sex with you."

"All you had to say was no," Alex interjected. "You could have seriously injured him when he fell. He's one of the best wrestlers on the team. We need him on Friday."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing that he's going to be just fine. It's just a shame that you won't be able to compete in that match with him."

"What? You have no authority."

"Do you think that you'll be able to pass the history exam without my help? Because there is no way whatsoever that I'm going to tutor you anymore."

"I didn't need your help to begin with. I'll pass the test on Wednesday and I'll be wrestling on Friday."

"Good luck with that." She grabbed her coat from the pile on the floor. She left the party. Her head held high.


	5. Beauty and Brains?

"Do you think I over reacted?" Izzie asked as she lounged on the pool deck of Meredith's house. She wore a pair of shorts over her favorite pink bikini.

"Are you kidding?" Meredith laughed. "You should have kept Denny pinned to the ground. That would have been great." She wore a purple and yellow striped bikini as she tanned herself in the late afternoon sun.

Izzie wished that she had kept Denny on the floor. His teammates never would have let him live it down if he let a girl beat him in a wrestling match.

"He's the one who broke up with you. He had no right to do what he did to you.

Izzie shuddered as she remembered how aroused he already was by just dancing with her. She was grateful that she didn't pin him to the ground; he would have tried to do much more than grope her.

"You should have been nicer to Alex though."

Izzie sat up in her chair. She peered at Meredith from the top of her sunglasses. "I was nice to Alex. He's the one who was being an ass."

"I'm going to tell you something but you have to promise that you won't get mad at me."

"I won't get mad."

"The first day that I met you I thought you were a stuck up snobbish bitch."

"Hey!"

Meredith glared at her as a warning to keep her mouth shut. "You were so standoffish when I introduced myself to you. I felt like you thought you were better than me and wanted nothing to do with me."

"That's not true."

"I know that now. But the way that you talk and the way that you walk can be so off-putting sometimes. I realize now that most of the time it's because you're oblivious."

"What?"

"I'm not going to deny that you're hot. I mean look at you. You're tall, blonde and have big boobs."

Izzie crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to shield herself from further ridicule from Meredith. It's not like she ever wore revealing clothes in public. She usually threw on a pair of jeans and a loose fitting t-shirt before school everyday. She didn't flaunt her body like some of the other girls. She'd rather be known for her intelligence. Not as some hot chick.

"All the guys think you're hot. They're always staring at you."

"No they're not."

"This is my point. You're oblivious to the way guys look at you. You're oblivious when they flirt with you."

"So you're saying that Alex dumping beer on my head was his way of flirting with me."

Meredith laughed. "I don't think so. I'm sure you're in full tutor mode whenever you're studying. He probably resents the fact that he has to spend his time with you."

Izzie made a face. "He's not exactly someone I enjoy spending my time with either."

"Yeah well that's not my point."

"What is your point?"

"The first party that you and I went to, all the guys were looking at you. Not me. Not Olivia. Not Callie. You. And they all flirted with you. But you didn't respond. You talked about some test that we had the next week. And everybody thought that you were being a bitch because you didn't flirt back."

"So, what does that have to do with Alex being as ass?"

"Well, I didn't see the entire argument that the two of you had, but I did hear him say that all he was trying to do was dance with you."

"And I didn't like anybody dancing so close to me so it made me look like a standoffish bitch?"

"Yes."

"He still had no right to dump beer on my head." Izzie stood up to stretch her legs. She removed her shorts. She rubbed more suntan lotion on her legs. She had a tendency to burn and didn't need to look like a lobster at school the next day.

"No, he didn't. But you didn't have to stop tutoring him either."

"I'm not going to change my mind. Not unless he apologizes to me."

"So you'll let him fail? I thought you were better than that."

"Guess not." Izzie was done with this conversation. She refused to allow Alex's behavior to be condoned. She wasn't going to cave on her decision to let him struggle on his own unless he apologized for being so mean to her. "Could you get my back?"

Meredith stood up and grabbed the lotion bottle from Izzie. She squirted some on her hands and rubbed it on Izzie's back. "Are you going to help Alex or not?"

"Nope."

Without warning, Meredith shoved Izzie into the deep end of the pool. Meredith jumped in causing the water to slosh off the sides. "Then we should go swimming."

Izzie laughed as they splashed water in each other's faces.


	6. Lesson One

The first time Izzie got in trouble, she was in kindergarten. She had refused to do her class work, opting to color a picture instead. Her teacher wrote her name on the board and prevented Izzie from playing outside during recess. This was also the last time that she got in trouble. But as Mr. Long stared at her, his blue eyes displaying an unspoken disappointment, it was like her name was scrawled on the marker board again for everyone to see.

Izzie shifted on the wooden chair as her teacher continued to silently stare at her. She turned away from him. She found a World War Two poster on the wall and focused all of her attention on it. She read and reread the information printed on the poster twenty-five times before the final bell rang announcing the end of the school day. Izzie quickly stuffed her textbook and notebook in her backpack, determined to escape the classroom before she was forced to endure the inevitable lecture Mr. Long was going to give her.

"Miss Stevens," his voice boomed through the class. "I need to speak to you."

Her backpack made a thumping noise as it fell against the carpeted floor. She stood in front of his desk, her skin a slight shade of red as the remaining students stared at her as they filed out of the room. Meredith gave her a sympathetic look as she exited the classroom.

"You can sit down."

She sat in the same seat she occupied during class. She gazed at Mr. Long as he leaned back against his desk. She twirled her golden hair between her fingers as she anticipated her teacher's admonishing remarks.

"You did a good job."

"What?" Of all things that Mr. Long could say to her, this was the thing she expected the least. She had heard the rumblings as soon as she had gotten to school that morning. Alex Karev failed his history exam and was ineligible to participate in extracurricular activities. He had to sit out of the wrestling match later that afternoon. And she was to blame because she was supposed to be his tutor.

Mr. Long reached behind him and pulled out a sheet of paper from a pile on his desk. He placed it in front of Izzie before returning to his spot in front of his desk.

She examined it closely, surprised to discover that he had given her Alex's test. He had made various notes in the margins and around the test questions. He crossed out answers he thought were incorrect and even made a few notes on why he believed they were wrong. His reasoning was generally right. He got a seventy-nine on the exam, one point shy from being able to wrestle. "I don't understand. Why are you congratulating me?"

"I've been teaching Alex for the last two years. This is the hardest that I've ever seen him try on anything in this class."

"He still failed."

"Failed?" He retrieved more papers from a filing cabinet in the corner of the room. He gave them to Izzie.

She looked through the exams. Five from the previous year and two others from this year. The first two from last year were decent, middle C grades. The remaining three from the year before and the two from this year were all Ds and Fs. None of the exams had any marks on them except for the answers.

"I didn't do this," she explained. "I stopped tutoring him on Saturday. If I had helped him study the remaining three days, he would have done better. He wouldn't be sitting on the bench watching his team."

"I know," he replied. "Alex told me that you got angry with him and refused to tutor him. He said that since this was your fault, I should give him the one extra point on the exam and let him compete."

"It wasn't my fault," she exclaimed as she stood up from her chair. "The only reason I refused to tutor him was because he was being impossible."

"So? It was your responsibility to teach him the material. It was your responsibility to make sure he understood everything." His voice rose with each word he spoke.

Izzie flinched at his words. She felt like a six-year old child again, being scolded by her teacher for not doing what she was supposed to be doing. There was nothing like being yelled at by an authority figure that made Izzie doubt herself. "I…"

"I really don't want to hear your excuses. I've been a teacher for six years and have had my fair share of difficult students. I don't let the fact that they occasionally disrupt class interfere with my ability to teach them."

"But he called me a bitch."

"I don't care," Mr. Long replied. He brushed his hand across his face. He sat down on the chair behind his desk. "The first year that I was teaching, I had a student who was a huge trouble maker. He made it his goal to interrupt class at least once a week to ask a question that had nothing to do with what I was teaching at the time."

"Alex gave me idiotic answers. He didn't pay attention when I was teaching him about World War I. The only reason he even tried to learn was so he could get me to go to a party with him." Izzie stopped herself before she said anything else. The last thing she needed was for her teacher to find out about the beer. Or that she had pushed Denny to the ground.

"So. That student I was telling you about, he discovered that my full name is Richard Barry Long."

Izzie was confused. How could that be a bad thing? He didn't have a name that easily lent itself to ridicule.

"He wrote Dick B. Long on the board before class one day. I was mortified when I saw it. I figured that I would lose respect from my students and teaching them would be impossible."

"What did you do?"

"Most of them didn't care. But one student, the same student that wrote my name on the marker board, he was determined to call me Dick and ask me if my 'dick be long' during class. One day, I got so fed up with it that I told him that the only way that I was going to continue to let him call me Dick was if he got an A on my next exam. Otherwise, I was going to write him up and have him suspended from school."

"What did he do?"

"He got an A on the next exam and every exam after that."

"Really?"

"Yes. He got to look cool to his friends for defying a teacher. I got him to learn about history and care about his grade."

Izzie wasn't sure she could do that. To let Alex call her names and blackmail her to attend parties wasn't exactly an ideal situation for her. She preferred it when she called the shots.

"Do you want to know why I chose you to tutor Alex?"

"Because I'm the smartest student in your class."

"No. The student I was telling you about, Alex reminds me of him. They're both smart but don't want to put in the effort. All they needed was that push to motivate them. I tried everything I could with Alex, but nothing I did worked." He pulled out something from his desk. "The trouble maker I taught my first year here, his name was Mark Sloan. I didn't realize he was your brother until he sent me a letter." He gave it to Izzie. "I chose you because you came highly recommended."

_Dear Mr. Long,_

_When I was in elementary school, a teacher once told me that I would amount to nothing when I grew up. I believed her and decided that being a troublemaker was the only way that I could make school bearable for me. I now realize that this was a vicious cycle that caused my other teachers to give up on my future as well. But then I had your American history class. You showed me that if I tried, I could succeed. Thank you. I am happy to hear that you continue to inspire your students and do everything in your power to make sure that nobody slips through the cracks. _

_A few weeks ago, my sister told me that you were her favorite teacher. I've got a little secret. Izzie helped me study for all of your exams. She loved reading about history and would tell me all the things she learned about through books. I would never admit it to her, but she's a whole hell of a lot smarter than me. She's also my hero. Even though you're the one who motivated me to try, she's the one who inspired me to believe in myself._

_As I read over this, I'm not sure how a letter thanking you turned into one praising my little sister. I wrote this letter because I have some news. Next semester I will be graduating from college. Without you (and Izzie), my second grade teacher would have been right. Instead of making minimum wage at the local grocery store, next fall I'll be starting my first year of Harvard Medical School with a full paid scholarship. Don't ever give up on your students. There is hope for us all._

_Your favorite pain in the ass,_

_Mark Sloan_

Izzie wiped the tears from her eyes. She never realized how big a troublemaker Mark was in school. She idolized her big brother. He was the one who made sure monsters weren't hiding beneath her bed. He was the one who protected her from bullies and cared for her when she was sick. After he left for college, he called her every weekend, encouraging her to be better than him. She never believed that she could be better than him though. He worked his way from community college to the University of Washington and finally to Harvard Medical School. When he called her to tell her about the scholarship, she had been proud of her brother. She was determined to do her best in high school so that one day she could call Mark and tell him that she had a scholarship to Harvard or Yale. As she stared at his letter, she realized that not only had she failed Alex and herself, she had failed Mark.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

She nodded her head. She had to find Alex and figure out a way to make it up to him. She didn't want to be the person who told him he was a failure. She was the one who had failed.


End file.
